If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Welcome to Mac-Forums! Join us to comment and to customize your site experience! Members have access to different forum appearance options, and many more functions.

I have a Power Mac G4 with Mac OS version 10.2.3. This has been working fine for me for over a year. 2 weeks ago for some inexplicable reason I decided to update this software. My mac is not connected to the internet so I downloaded the updates via my pc and burned them on to a cd. I then updated the mac from the cd. This is when my problems started. The upgrade installation did not complete and left the computer hanging. I tried to re-install from the original cd but it would not upgrade a newer version of the software (obviously duh!). I tried various other things but eventually decided to cut my losses and did a clean re-install of the os 10.2.3. It took 17 attempts and many blue screens before it installed. But I could not get past the blue screen.

That was 2 weeks ago. Yesterday I decided to try all over again, being very careful at every step. I wiped the disk and then did a clean install, but left out all the additional stuff like printer drivers, languages additional applications etc (it still took 3 attempts before it installed). But, guess what I still have the blue screen syndrome. When I boot up it goes through all its processes, looking like its loading up the firewall etc etc but then hangs on a blue screen, sometimes flickering a bit.

I have tried to boot up in Safe Mode but it just does the same.

I have removed all peripherals except the screen, mouse and keyboard (this was done before installing the os 10.2.3)

I have also tried all of the following:

Selecting the "Connect automatically when starting TCP/IP applications" option in Network preferences can sometimes cause this issue. You'll need to delete the preference file that holds this setting. This is an advanced step that will reset all of your computer's network settings. You will need to reconfigure them in Network preferences to reconnect to the Internet or a network.
Start up the computer in Single-User Mode.
Type: mount -uw /
Press Return.
Type one of the following:

2) File System Check - When booting up your computer hold down the Apple Key & the S key and it will boot into single user mode. When the text is done loading on the screen type in /sbin/fsck -f and hit enter.
When that is done if it fixed things then do the check again to make sure it is cleared
When finished with that type in exit and it will start the computer in normal mode

I also tried these 2 things bit it just went in to non existent Safe Mode:

5) Resetting the PRAM: When booting, hold down Command-Option-P-R and wait for the triple startup chimes.

6) Reset Nonvolatile Firmware: When booting, hold down Command-Option-O-F and wait for the command prompt. Type "reset-nvram" and hit enter.

And I could not work out how to do the following suggestion (where does one delet preferences or caches):

3) If it is a particular program that is giving you problems delete its preferences in 'Your User Name'/Library/Preferences

Regarding syslog error message: You don't have to make sense out of error messages yourself. Once you have found the error message you can search google for possible remedies or call tech support and ask.

1. First tell us what are you trying to do??
As I read your thread and get really confused.

2. Why are you using the terminal for installation?
It's not a PC, so there's no need to touch the terminal, what so ever!

3. After installing Jaguar 10.2.3, what version are you trying to upgrade to? Latest version maybe? Well in that case, you need to buy Panther, as it's considered a Milestone upgrade. And if you attempt to upgrade Jaguar 10.2.3 to Panther 10.3.0 you gonna get more problems than it's worth. The two versions have so many differences between them.

4. Why make things more complicated for yourself?

FYi: Downloading patches with your PC for installation to a Mac isn't recommended. The Mac OS uses resource folks and nearly all PC burning software will lose them. Although the files appears to be all there! They maybe missing some vital information.

If your Mac isn't online but have a router for your internet connection. You can simply attach a network cable to the router or if you have a Network card in your PC. Or network your Mac to you PC and download what ever you need.

To install the operating system from CD/DVD on a Mac is a really simple process.
Just follow those steps, the whole thing should take 20-40 mins.

Installing/Reinstalling the OS from CD/DVD

1. Insert the Mac OS X Install Disc 1 CD and double-click the Install Mac OS X icon.
2. Follow the onscreen instructions. In the panel where you select the destination disk, select your current Mac OS X disk (in most cases, it will be the only one available).
3. Click Options. If you want to save your existing files, users, and network settings, select "Archive and Install," then select Preserve Users and Network Settings. If you want to erase everything on your computer and reinstall Mac OS X, select "Erase and Install." You can't recover erased data.
4. Click Continue.
5. Click Customize to select which parts of Mac OS X you'd like to install, or click Install to perform a basic installation (recommended).

If you purchased a standalone version of Mac OS X, these installation instructions are in a booklet included with Mac OS X.

To start up in Safe Mode for debugin, just do the following. Not required for most users.

Starting up in Safe Mode - For alll versions of Mac OS9 and OSX

1. Shut down the computer.
2. Press the Power button.
3. Immediately after you hear the startup tone, press and hold the Shift key.
4. Release the Shift key when the spinning progress indicator appears below the gray apple on the screen.

To leave Safe Mode, restart the computer normally.

And for adding new users to your system. It's only a few clicks away.
And you don't need the terminal and any commands, just use the GUI.

[bAdding a new user account to your computer[/b]

1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences and click Accounts.
2. If some settings are dimmed, click the lock icon and type an administrator name and password.
3. Click Add (+) and type the user's name.
4. Type a short name if you don't want to use the short name generated automatically. (Once the account is created, you won't be able to change the short name.)
5. Type the user's password in the Password and Verify boxes.
6. Type a hint to help the user remember the password if they have trouble remembering it at login.
7. Click Limitations and select options to determine what the user can do with the computer.

If you change your mind while you're creating a new user account, click Delete (-) to cancel.

Can't open package /Volumes/Macintosh HD/Library/Receipts/BaseSystem.pkg (there was an error reading the file Archive.bom)

I have cleaned install cd.
I have run disk utility and repaired permissions and rapaired disk (there were no errors)
I have run fsck in single user (no errors)
I have run Alsoft diskwarrior (no errors)

So to summarise: I am trying to install os 10.3 but it keeps not completing and telling me that the install failed and to restart and try again.

Im not much help here but have you tried taking it to apple and seeing if they could do it for you? Even if the warranty has expired I think it would still be worth the extra money to have them fix it for you